United Arab Emirates University Scholarworks@UAEU Medical Education Dissertations Medical Education 10-2017 VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY IN EARLY PREGNANCY, DIET AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF GESTATIONAL DIABETES IN EMIRATI WOMEN Sharifa Ali Abdulrahman Al Belooshi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/med_ed_dissertations Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Al Belooshi, Sharifa Ali Abdulrahman, "VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY IN EARLY PREGNANCY, DIET AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF GESTATIONAL DIABETES IN EMIRATI WOMEN" (2017). Medical Education Dissertations. 7. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/med_ed_dissertations/7 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Medical Education at Scholarworks@UAEU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Medical Education Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarworks@UAEU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. iii Copyright Copyright © 2017 Sharifa Ali Abdulrahman Al Belooshi All Rights Reserved iv Advisory Committee 1. Advisor: Abderrahim Oulhaj Title: Assistant Professor Public Health Institute College of Medicine and Health Sciences 2. Member: Syed Shah Title: Professor Public Health Institute College of Medicine and Health Sciences 3. Member: Raghib Ali Title: Professor Public Health Research Center New York University, UAE vii Abstract Vitamin D deficiency and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) are common health problems among pregnant women in the Middle East region including the United Arab Emirates. However, a few prospective studies have investigated the association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of GDM. We estimated the incidence of GDM and examined the association of vitamin D status in early pregnancy and the development of GDM in Emirati pregnant women.